This is a good column, not just for its never ending list of backhanded compliments, but because it's completely accurate how the old way of getting (close?) to the White House is gone, probably forever.

I Gotta Give Props to Donald Trump

You gotta hand it to Donald Trump. However things turn out on election day, he’s somehow made it this close to the White House. And he’s done it entirely his way. Up until now, the path he’s forged to political prominence would have been considered an impossible route. Impossible.

His obstacles were many: Fox News, the GOP establishment, the GOP leadership, GOP donors, the Bushes (including Billy), Mitt Romney, major GOP columnists, his absence of experience, his absence of policy-related knowledge, every living POTUS, his business track record, his bombastic personality, his p***y-grabbing nature, his lack of self-control, his financial funny business, and an endless string of ordinarily campaign-ending scandals. His naysayers and critics were many. But one by one he either won them over, or ran them over.

Donald Trump beat the system.

And he never bent to anyone else’s strategy, advice, or opinion. He’s always been confident that he is the ultimate media savant — sensing what it wants, feeding it what it needs, bending it to his will. With what seemed like almost no effort, he made complete mockeries of pundits and campaign strategists. Entire fields, obliterated.

According to them, he did everything wrong. But what he was really doing was everything Trump. He never stopped making headlines by any means necessary. He never stopped lying. He never depended on speech writers. He didn’t spend big on advertising. He never apologized. He never prepared for debates. Think about that one. We’re talking about what is arguably the most pressure-packed political event in the world, and at times, he just stood there and said wrong over and over. He said “rip the baby out of the womb” multiple times, and he’s in second place in the race to be President of the United States. His debate breathing alone would have been enough to completely destroy the candidacy of a normal candidate.

He refused to show his tax returns.

He referenced the size of his penis during a GOP debate.

For like six months of the campaign, he was orange.

He pushed his branded products and his properties. He held campaign events in his own soon-to-open hotel. On almost every occasion, he made bad situations worse. He threatened to put his opponent in jail. He had a public feud with the Speaker of the House. He praised Putin. Over and over. He ridiculed John McCain’s military service.

He offended women, Muslims, military families, minorities. He had a public spat with Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He said this about Rosie O’Donnell … during a presidential debate: “I said very tough things to her and I think everybody would agree she deserves it and nobody feels sorry for her.” He even fought with Megyn Kelly. How could that not have been a disqualifying moment for a GOP candidate?

I can’t answer that. Like everyone else, I only understand the old rules. I have no explanation for what’s happening.

But I am sure about one thing: This moment in time is less about a political wind, and more about a singular blowhard. There is no Trumpism. Only Trump.

Only Trump could do all this and get so far into our heads we couldn’t stop thinking about him. No single person has ever been responsible for more Xanax consumption. And he still has time left over to Tweet.

There is only one Donald Trump. I’m no fan, but I’ll give him that.

He’s the best there will ever be at whatever it is he does.